Andrew Hurley: Rebel With A Cause

By

Andrew Lentz

May 13, 2013 8:27 am

“It’s exactly like lip-synching for drums,” says Hurley, recalling the long days on set. “I have pads to deaden the heads and cymbals that are sliced in the middle – basically two cymbals on top of each other but Sabian makes them specific, so they’re just dead cymbals. So actually I play the parts with full energy and full volume, it just doesn’t make noise.”

While not a multi-instrumentalist in any sense, the drummer was struggling to learn guitar over the summer because the band had tentative plans to do a series of Unplugged-style acoustic sets. More critical for Hurley during the recording of Folie, was to make a contribution beyond his drum parts.

“I tried to play the lead part in a song, but I remember I just couldn’t get it and we needed to get it done that day so it never happened,” he recalls, sounding like a wide-eyed kid. “I wanted to play just one lead line, like, not the whole thing, just one in the song so every time I heard it I could be, ’Oh, that was me.’”

Groove Analysis

“I Don’t Care”
The first single off Folie À Deux is “I Don’t Care,” a 12/8 anthemic rocker. Andrew Hurley opens with a tasty fill that places tom accents on the ah of 2, 3, and 4. He plays a shuffle on his toms over pounding bass drum quarter-notes and snare backbeats. He plays a similar pattern at the chorus, only this time he rides a crash instead of the floor tom. At the bridge, he returns to the floor tom and throws in a nice little triplet embellishment at the end of each bar.